[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]

Newzoo’s free 2012 US Country Report shows a market that
is almost flat in terms of total consumer spend. Under the surface,
the research results show the effect of dramatically changed
consumer behaviour. Of the 157 million US gamers, 86 million spend
money on games.

Time spent on games in the US is up significantly: +26% versus
+18% for Europe. Biggest growth is in the number of gamers that
actually spend money: +33% US versus +17% for Europe. Combined with
a lower average spend per paying gamer, this results in a +1% rise
in money spend for the US. The scope of the research is set up to
include every single dollar spent on games, including all digtal
and mobile spending as well as online skillgaming, pre-owned,
import and DLC.

Western Europe boasts a slightly higher growth percentage than
the US: +3%. In brief, digital distributed content, online,
smartphone and tablet games make up for the decline of boxed sales,
but total consumer spend is relatively flat in Western markets.
Since the uptake of tablets and smartphones as gaming device,
consumers now have four screens to acces their entertainment. The
PC still grosses most time and money, ahead of the TV screen, but
already 22% of all American gamers play on all four screens.

Some other key take-aways from the country deck are:

Smartphone and tablets are complimentary, with more than 10
million Americans (12% of all mobile gamers) playing games on both
a smartphone and tablet. This is higher than in Europe (7%).

In 2012 the number of gamers rises with 8% to 157 million, of
which 55% spends money.

The Computer Screen still the most popular screen to play
games, followed by the Entertainment screen. The Floating Screen
(tablets + handheld consoles) monetizes best.

The Floating screen has half the number of players compared to
the Personal Screen (smartphones) but almost twice the money
spend.

Peter Warman, CEO of Newzoo adds: “The budget of the
86 million American paying gamers is limited to an amount that fits
with the position that games have in their life. At the same time,
the number of screens on which he or she can play games has doubled
from two to four. Already, an impressive 22% of all American gamers
play on all screens… So naturally, average spending is down
per screen. The best news this year is that 24 million Americans
are spending money on games for the first time. They are drawn in
by smartphone and tablet games in combination with the free-to-play
business model. Future growth in the US will come from this group
as their average spending rises.”